XL2000: Label Is Missing from the Upper-Left Corner of the Consolidation Table

If you use the Consolidate command to summarize data from two or more worksheets, the label may be missing from the upper-left corner of the consolidation table. For example, the table may appear as follows instead of:

This problem occurs when you create the consolidation table and you click to select both the Top row and Left column check boxes under Use labels in within the Consolidate dialog box.

To work around this problem, follow these steps:

1. Select the consolidation table.
2. On the Data menu, click Consolidate.
3. Click to clear both the Top row and the Left column check boxes, and then click OK.
4. On the Data menu, click Consolidate, click to select the Top row check box, and then click OK.
5. On the Data menu, click Consolidate. Click to select the Left column check box, and then click OK.

The label should now appear correctly in the upper-left corner of the consolidation table.

To prevent this problem from occurring when you create a new consolidation table, select only one of the two check boxes (Top row or Left column) when you create the table. Next, click Consolidate on the Data menu, select the other check box, and then click OK.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in Excel 2000.

The Consolidate feature in Microsoft Excel allows you summarize data from multiple, identically arranged tables. To see an example that uses the Consolidate feature and demonstrates the problem described in the "Symptoms" section, follow these steps:

1. In Microsoft Excel, create a new workbook. Type the following values in the specified worksheets:

      Sheet1                     Sheet2
      ------------------------   ------------------------
      A1: Name      B1: Number   A1: Name      B1: Number
      A2: Alpha     B2: 1        A2: Alpha     B2: 4
      A3: Bravo     B3: 2        A3: Bravo     B3: 5
      A4: Charlie   B4: 3        A4: Charlie   B4: 6
   					

2. Click Sheet3, and then select cell A1.
3. On the Data menu, click Consolidate. In the Consolidate dialog box, follow these steps:
   1. Click Sheet1. Select the cell range A1:B4, and then click Add.
   2. Click Sheet2. Select the cell range A1:B4, and then click Add.
   3. Click to select both the Top row and the Left column check boxes in the dialog box, and then click OK.
   The following consolidation table is created in Sheet3:

      A1:           B1: Number
      A2: Alpha     B2: 5
      A3: Bravo     B3: 7
      A4: Charlie   B4: 9
   					

Note that the values in the table (5, 7, 9) are the sums of the respective values in cells B2, B3, and B4 in the tables in Sheet1 (1, 2, 3) and Sheet2 (4, 5, 6).

In addition, the label "Name" is missing from cell A1. If you follow the steps in the "Workaround" section, the missing label appears correctly, as in the following example: